


High and Low

by WingedLesbianParagon



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: After writing the sixth chapter i've decided to change my archive warnings, F/F, First fic be gentle, I couldn't quite piece the timeline together so this is more or less my interpretation of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-02-07 04:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12833007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingedLesbianParagon/pseuds/WingedLesbianParagon
Summary: A story of little snippets in time that aims to detail the romantic relationship between Moira and Mercy from the days of Overwatch to present day, and Moira's fall from grace.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At this point in time, the first two chapters have been properly edited.
> 
> Song inspiration: Hi-Lo by Evanescence

**Moira:**

Moira was attracted to Angela and that was a fact. The problem was in approaching Angela. Moira knew she was strange, the person others avoided, the person always left in the corner of the room alone at conferences and galas, the person no one ever wanted to sit beside. Once upon a time she had made an effort to be sociable, once upon a time maybe she had actually cared. But not anymore, no, now she knew and reveled in her solitary lifestyle. If people weren’t interested in her then she wasn’t interested in them; they simply didn’t understand her.

But Angela, Angela was different somehow. Angela had a light in her eyes, a light that the darkness inside of Moira craved. She was kind to Moira, or at least she didn’t go out of her way to avoid her like the others. Moira didn’t know the difference. They’d had a few disagreements over ethics, but what are a few ethical disagreements between colleagues? Angela was just misguided, she allowed _ethics_ to get in the way of her work in a way that Moira didn’t. Moira though that maybe she could ignore that in a relationship.

But she was getting ahead of herself.

She had another problem when it came to approaching Angela. During late nights in her office she would wonder if it was possible for Angela to even be attracted to her. She knew Angela didn’t have a boyfriend, but that meant nothing. She didn’t relish in the contemplation of the potential humiliation; Moira had kept her homosexuality a secret at work to avoid the judgements, but she saw how people looked at her with her short hair and dedication to dress shirts and ties, and she knew what they _thought_. Moira told herself it didn’t matter, but sometimes it did. She hoped that Angela would let her down gently and be kind to her, as many in the past had not been.

The shadows deepened in the lab indicating that it was getting late. Moira decided that now was the time; she’d certainly taken long enough. She shrugged off her lab coat and adjusted her tie, checking her reflection in a particularly large beaker. She took a deep breath and told herself, _I am perfectly loveable_. Feeling the butterflies in her stomach, Moira reached for her lab rabbit to comfort herself but the animal shrunk away from her grasp in terror. _Fuck_ , she thought, _that’s not a good sign_. She made a mental note to ask the head of the science department for a more cooperative lab animal.

Moira nervously walked down the hall of the empty science department; at this time of day most people had gone home leaving only the most dedicated to their research to stay into the night. She knew exactly where Angela would be: in the medical wing researching her nanotechnology.

**Angela:**

Angela was staying late again, her nanite research taking precedence over her life. Sometimes she craved human contact during these lonely hours, but she knew how important her research was and its application in saving human lives. During the day she could talk to her other colleagues, but the only other person there at this time of night was well, _Moira_. Truth be told, she found the older doctor quite attractive, but her studies took up much of her time and anyway, she knew the dangers of _working relationships_ as she called them. Angela sighed, she had looked up to the older scientist when she had first joined Overwatch, but her faith had swiftly unravelled as she became more aware of Moira’s lack of regard for protocol and ethics. “We must all make sacrifices in the name of science!” she would say, but Angela wasn’t sure there was anything that could be considered progress when it came at a disregard for others. Moira hadn’t crossed the line, not yet; Overwatch wouldn’t put up with such behaviour. But there had been some unsubstantiated rumours that Moira was toying with the building blocks of life…

Angela could hear footsteps coming down the hallway and started in surprise. The only person it could be was Moira but she rarely went to Angela’s office except to peek at her research in the daytime.

Angela’s door was open, but at any rate a long, slender hand reached in and knocked on it as a tall woman appeared in the doorway, her red hair shining in the darkness of the evening.

 _Politeness_? Angela thought, _from Moira? Must be a full moon_.

“Come in”, she said, and the handsome woman slinked into her office.

“Hello Dr. O’Deorain, how can I help you?” Angela thought she detected a slight blush on Moira’s normally stoic pale face, but she shook her head, _imagining things_ , she thought.

“Good evening Dr. Ziegler”, Moira spoke, “I’ve come to see how your evening is going.”

 _Moira having a regard for others_? Angela quickly peeked out the window. _Not a full moon, weird_.

“It’s going well," Angela said slowly, uncertain how to react. "Was there something I could help you with Dr. O’Deorain?”

Moira shifted her weight slightly and seemed to avoid making eye contact. “Ah, no, nothing in particular… Ah, how’s your, uh, research going?”

“It’s... also going quite well," she replied. "I’ve developed several new applications for my nano-machines that I hope to test out on the field soon”.

“What kind of applications?” Moira said eagerly.

Angela stared at the other woman incredulously. “Oh, you know, the healing kind”.

“Ah of course”. The simple banter, small talk at best, was unusual for Moira. The good doctor couldn't help but feel annoyed that Moira was taking such a roundabout method of getting to the point of what she wanted. Was there some sort of trick afoot?

“Well Dr. O’Deorain, if there’s nothing you need I must really get back to my research”. She turned her back on the geneticist and frowned at the work in front of her.

“Ah, well, see you later then, Ange- Dr. Ziegler”, Moira stuttered, patting Angela on the back.

She turned, startled by the contact, and caught a glimpse of Moira’s red face as she ran out of Angela’s office and back down the hallway. _What the hell_? She thought as she checked her back to make sure she wasn’t turning into a frog or something but noticed nothing wrong. This piqued Angela’s interest, Moira was acting out of character. _Well she’s finally snapped_ , thought Angela, _gone completely off the deep-end_.

Then Angela remembered that Moira had been blushing. She’d called her Angela. She had been acting _informal_. She thought she’d better go check on her to make sure nothing was wrong.

 **Moira** :

Moira rushed down the hallway back to her office. _God I’m such an idiot_ , “Smooth move” she whispered sarcastically to herself as she closed the door and settled behind her desk. It had been her chance to tell Angela how she’d felt and she’d blown it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've done some editing of this since the first iteration posted on tumblr. Thank you to liungarkeanda for her guidance and additions.

**Angela:**

Angela quietly opened the door to Moira's office and peeked inside. The woman was sitting at her desk, face down in a pile of paperwork, hands entangled in her fiery red hair. Her fingers were clenching in agitation.

She felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach. _Maybe I shouldn't have been so abrupt with her earlier_ , Angela wondered. She frowned nervously as she approached Moira. She had never seen the usually calm and collected doctor in this state before.

"Moira?" Angela tentatively reached out a hand to touch the woman's shoulder. Moira jumped up as though startled, flinching away from the contact and falling out of her chair and onto the ground. Angela quickly bent over, extending a hand to help the surprised woman to her feet. Moira looked up at her with a strange expression.

 _What's going on behind those eyes?_ Angela wondered as Moira hesitantly reached out and accepted her hand. _Warm_. It was unexpected; she had assumed Moira would be as cold as her usual demeanour, but she wasn't. Moira continued to stare at her, mismatched eyes a mystery as Angela helped her to her feet. Angela braced herself for a vicious tongue-lashing, but the woman said nothing. The silence had just started to become uncomfortable when Moira finally spoke.

"You startled me, lass". Moira said, her hand still holding Angela's. Strange expression unchanged.

"I'm sorry," Angela said quietly, half-expecting an explosion of bad temper. "I wanted to make sure you were alright. When you were in my office you seemed a little..." She hesitated, searching for a polite word, only to lose her train of thought completely when the other woman's face flushed a deep red. "Are-are you quite alright, Dr. O'Deorain-?"

"Moira."

"Beg pardon?"

Her face still bright red, gaze averted, she said quietly, "You can-you should call me Moira."

Speechless for a moment, Angela nodded numbly. "...Ok, Moira." She took a deep breath.

"When you came to my office earlier I... was something the matter?" 

"It's fine. I just..." she trailed off, frowning.

"You just...?" Angela prompted. A strange expression crossed Moira's face.

Angela watched, mystified, as Moira reached out and placed a hand intimately on her cheek. Compelled, Angela copied Moira's movement, and the other woman brought her face in closer. Angela, having never really understood Moira before this moment, looked into her eyes and _saw_ as the woman leaned in and brought their lips together. Angela gasped at the contact, but in acquiescence she moved her hands to the back of Moira's neck and slid her fingers through her hair as the woman's kisses travelled across her jawline and down her neck. _Oh,_ thought Angela, as the woman took her waist and slowly leaned her backwards towards the desk, unable to resist.

\----------------------------------------------

**Moira:**

Time passed, and Moira's research collaborations with Angela grew more and more numerous. Rumours were abound about the relationship between the two, but when questioned Moira would only respond with a tight-lipped, knowing smile and drift away from the conversation. Relationships were not truly permitted between coworkers, but this rule was generally ignored and eyes were politely averted in the event of a suspicious display of closeness. However, the whispers about the two were quite numerous. Moira knew this, so she smiled and she smiled and she smiled. _They can think whatever they want,_ Moira thought, _I don't need their approval_. And she didn't. But Angela did.

Moira sighed, pausing on the experiment she had only just started. Angela craved the approval of the Overwatch team and indeed she deserved it, but that didn't stop her from appearing in Moira's office at night when everyone else had gone home. It didn't stop the conversations they would have at lunch while everyone gawked at them, laughing together in the breakroom. Nor indeed, most important of all, did it stop the research they were working on together.

As if on cue Angela walked into Moira's lab, a stack of papers in her hands.

"Check out these new and improved Valkyrie suit specs!" Angela excitedly shoved the papers into Moira's already full hands.

"Grand." Moira said as she performed a balancing act of items. She had been waiting to see how much progress had been made. She set down her tools and put her full attention onto the now slightly crumpled papers.

"These are quite fascinating my dear Angela," she said, inducing a blush on Angela's face. "It seems your skill with nano-machines will continue to revolutionize healing on the field, especially after the work you did with that Shimada boy."

Angela beamed at her, and Moira couldn't help but smile back.

"That's the plan." she said. "Just think of the lives that will be saved! But I have to go, Strike Commander Morrison wants to see these designs. I need his approval to start development, but I wanted to show you first."

Angela turned to rush out the door, and then turned around, giving Moira a quick peck on the lips. Moira laughed, sweeping Angela into a tight embrace. As voices out in the hallway grew louder, she released her, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

"They couldn't possibly deny you." She assured as she ushered Angela out the door.

Moira turned back to her work, picking up a needle and filling it with purple fluid from a vial she had mixed together earlier. She grinned eagerly. _The ethics department would never have approved of this_. Inability to get a human test subject would not stop her, no. She didn't need the ethics department to test on herself. _What they don' t know won't hurt them_. She was planning her own personal evolution. _If my predictions are correct, I could advance the field of genetics by decades_ , she imagined.

Ready, she settled herself into her chair and biting her lip, inserted the first of many injections into her veins. Moira doubled over in pain, gripping her arm. _The price of progress_ , she rationalized, as she faded out of consciousness.

**Angela:**

Angela was ecstatic, her meeting with Morrison had gone well and she was to start production of the new model of Valkyrie suits the next week. She couldn't wait to tell Moira, to see her face fill with pride in her _girlfriend_. Angela smiled to herself; months after their initial encounter, the word was still _exciting_.

Angela's thoughts were cut short and she gasped in horror as she walked into Moira's lab and saw the doctor passed out in her chair, head rolled forward, a hand with a needle dangling down the side.

 _What the fuck!_ Angela thought, rushing over to Moira, quickly moving her to the floor and checking her ABCs. Moira was breathing, but her pulse was weak.

She reached for Moira's arm and pinched at her shoulder. _Nothing_.

She curled her hand and ran her knuckles across Moira's sternum. _Nothing_.

She put pressure under Moira's jaw. _She moved_.

Moira gasped, sucking in air as her eyes opened for a moment and met Angela's. She smiled, reaching for her face. Angela looked down realized she was desperately squeezing at Moira's other hand, but it was cold, so cold. The hand that touched her face was warm.

"Hello _Angel_." Moira whispered, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of the way of Angela's worried eyes.

"Moira, what did you _take_?" It took Angela a moment to realize the loud noise she'd heard was her own shouting.

"Did it work?" Angela watched as Moira's smile spread across her face. Instead of the usual tight-lipped smile Angela was used to, this one was filled with teeth. For a moment, Angela felt scared.

"Did _what_ work?" But Moira was already unconscious again.

 _Fuck_ , thought Angela, _fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck_.

She ran for help.


	3. Chapter 3

**Moira:**

Moira's head was still pounding. She'd been immediately called into an emergency disciplinary meeting the minute she'd woken up in the med-bay. Sighing into a cup of lukewarm coffee, she looked at the faces in front of her. Strike Commander Jack Morrison, Gerard Lacroix, several other relatively high ranking operatives whose names she hadn't bothered to learn, and a man she'd never seen before who seemed a lot more amused than the rest of them were. He looked at Moira and smiled, his dark face creased into a smirk, and Moira felt briefly annoyed.

"...explaining to do." Morrison said, and Moira realized she hadn't been paying attention.

She looked at Morrison.

"Why am I here?" she asked, though she knew full-well why she was there.

" _Why are you here?!"_ Morrison roared, "Why. Are. You. _Here_? Dr. Ziegler's team brought you to medical half alive with a needle in your hand and you're wondering _why_ you're here?"

Moira frowned. She got the distinct feeling that she was in more trouble than she had expected. She flexed her right hand under the table, it felt numb though her fingers were all working properly.

"I was doing research." She said, boldly. This time it was Morrison's turn to frown.

"What kind of research?" he asked.

"Genetic research" she said, only just stopping herself from adding the word 'obviously' to the end of her sentence. _What a stupid question_.

"On yourself?"

"Well yes..." she said, "While my lab animals assist greatly, good human test subjects are hard to come by..." _especially_ _after what happened last time_ , she thought, but didn't add.

"Why do you do this type of research Dr. O'Deorain?" Morrison asked.

Moira smiled, it was simple.

"I seek only to better humankind."

Lacroix snorted, and Moira looked at him in confusion.

He pulled out several of Moira's published articles from a folder and laid them out in front of her.

"You're walking a thin line here O'Deorain. Your work is contemptible, unethical. We have been negligent in allowing such experiments to be conducted in our facilities. I understand also that no one has yet to reproduce any of it, _oui_?"

Moira felt her cheeks redden in anger and embarrassment. Lacroix had touched a sore spot. She said nothing.

" _Non_ , I didn't think so." said Lacroix, sweeping her work off the table; another insult. "Enough of this, we must make a decision. Morrison, Reyes?"

 _Reyes_. Moira's eyes flicked to the stranger, who was still looking at her with a smile in his eyes. She stared back.

"Dr. O'Deorain," said Morrison, capturing her attention. "Would you please step out of the room while we come to a decision?"

"Yes." She said numbly, slowly getting out of her chair, and exiting the room, closing the door behind her. The gravity of the situation had begun to sink in. Lacroix's angry words had shaken her. Why did they not understand what she was trying to do? She leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down until she was on the ground. Moira put her head in her hands.

" _Moira_." A soft voice said. Suddenly there was an arm around her shoulders and she looked up to see Angela staring concernedly back at her. She leaned her head onto the woman's shoulders, too numb to say anything. Angela placed her hand on Moira's hair, softly massaging her head.

"I was very worried you know."

I know."

The silence stretched out between them. Moira could feel that Angela had more to say, but was holding it back for now behind pursed lips. For this she was grateful.

Minutes passed like hours with Moira lost in thought, until finally Angela untangled herself from Moira's shoulders and pulled the woman to her feet. Moira felt warm hands reach up and deftly adjust her collar and tie as she looked down into Angela's worried eyes. The gentle touch gave her reassurance.

Those same warm hands reached higher to Moira's cheeks, and standing on her tip-toes, Angela placed a light kiss on Moira's mouth.

"How... how long was I out?" she asked hesitantly."

"Days." Angela replied. Moira looked at her in surprise. 

She could hear footsteps approaching the door.

"We'll talk when you are finished, _meine Schatzi."_ Angela squeezed Moira's hand and Moira felt reassured. Angela believed in her.

The door opened to reveal Reyes and the two women quickly pulled their hands away. He said nothing, though Moira noticed that the movement did not escape him.

"Angela." He said, and Angela smiled at him as though he were an old friend.

"Gabriel." Angela nodded, as she waved goodbye and set off down the hall.

 _Gabriel Reyes_. Moira filed that away for later. She knew nothing of this man, but clearly Angela did. _Curious_.

"Well?" he said, "Ready?" His face betrayed no information as to what Moira was going to face inside.

A wave of nausea rippled through Moira, the reassurance Angela's presence had given her was suddenly gone. She nodded her assent, unable to speak.

Reyes gestured towards the doorway, and Moira walked through, confronted again by the faces of Morrison, Lacroix, and the brass whose names she should probably have made an effort to learn. Morrison gestured to Moira's empty chair and she sat down, gripping her coffee cup for strength, it was cold now.

Reyes swept by like a wraith, settling back into his own chair.

"Dr. O'Deorain," Morrison said, "After reviewing the facts, we have decided that we will be terminating your employment with Overwatch."

The silence that followed this statement was deafening. Reyes was smiling at her, widely this time. _WHY_ _?_

Moira's coffee cup cracked under the pressure from her fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Careful there Lacroix
> 
> Short chapter this time but I promise the next one will be longer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Conversation on parental death.
> 
> This chapter has not been fully vetted but I have decided to post it anyway because I really wanted to get it to you guys. I was in a car accident and will probably edit some after I recover.
> 
> At this time I will be taking a break (1-2 weeks) while I finish my final exam period and recover.
> 
> My apologies to all Gaelic speakers as I can't for the life of me figure out how to insert non-English characters into this writing tool.

**Angela:**

Angela was in her office, waiting for Moira to come. She absentmindedly tapped her pen on her desk, unable to concentrate on the simple work in front of her as she wondered what the result of the inquiry would be. Surely Moira would be fine? _It's not as though self-experimentation is a problem in and of itself in the medical world,_ she thought. But she knew it wasn't Moira's first meeting, and she knew that they'd be looking at her research as a whole.

A knock at the door startled her.

"Come in." she said, looking up from her computer to see Gabriel, not Moira, at the door.

"Gabriel? The meeting's done then?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes, it's all settled." he said, sweeping into the room and pulling up a chair in front of Angela's desk.

"What was the result?" she asked, folding her hands together and placing them in front of her.

"Angie, you know I can't tell you that." He said, fiddling with a trinket from her desk.

"Then, what are you here for?" she asked, harsher than she had meant to. She was nervous.

"What, I can't stop in to see my old friend Angela on my way out?" he laughed, drawing a smile from her.

"Oh Gabe, you know I know you better than that." She teased in return.

His normally jovial face turned serious as he leaned in conspiratorially towards Angela.

"How would you describe this Dr. O'Deorain?" he asked.

"She's... I trust her." Angela replied, surprised and unsure of what she was being asked.

"You like her?" His eyes bore into her.

"I..." _I love her_. "Yes, I do."

"You've seen her research?" he asked, calmly, but she knew there was a deeper meaning behind the question.

Angela bowed her head, she'd avoided looking at much of it after some of the rumours she'd heard, not wanting to break the illusion that she'd built for herself.

"Is it... Is it that bad?" she whispered.

"She's a genius with a great amount of potential." He replied, but that didn't answer her question.

"Gabe, _please_." She said, shifting her weight in her chair.

"Her research is as voracious, risk-taking, brazen and lacking in restraint as that which started the Omnic war."He replied, after some thought. "She's perhaps a visionary, but definitely a radical; the kind that frightens people these days."

Angela tried to absorb this information but was distracted by a green flashing light that illuminated the room. Gabriel looked down at his watch, the source of the light.

"Nice talking to you Angela," he said abruptly. "We'll have to grab coffee some time." He swept out of the room, having left more questions than he'd brought with him.

Angela sat with one of these questions on her lips, but resignedly settled back into her chair, not realising she had been sitting on the edge throughout the conversation. She checked the time. Where on Earth was Moira?

**Moira:**

It took Moira less time than she ever would have thought to pack up her office and things. She sighed as she put extra hay in the rabbit cages and prepared to leave. She thought about stopping at Angela's office to tell her how the meeting went, but the thought gripped her in an emotion she hadn't felt in a very long time: shame. Besides, there was an armed escort waiting at the door to throw her out of the building. She eyed them up as she switched off the lights to the room and allowed them to walk her in silence towards the exit.

"Good riddance." One sneered, as she handed over her pass cards and he shut the door in her face. "Cic Maith Sa Toin Ata De Dlith Air." She muttered under her breath. She was, without a doubt, pissed off.

Moira turned away from the door, her lack of employment sinking in. Knowing she was on camera, she forced one foot in front of the other and held her head high in an attempt to maintain her dignity on the way to the parking garage.

She suddenly felt herself being buffeted by strong winds as an airship landed behind her. Moira paused, facing forward as she heard a ramp drop, then footsteps exiting the ship, unsure of what was afoot.

"Dr. O'Deorain," said Reyes, "Need a ride?" Moira was surprised, but tried not to show it.

"And where could you possibly take me?" She asked coolly, turning to look at him. He still had that stupid smile on his face, the same one he was wearing when she was fired.

He stood with his hand outstretched, a cyborg ninja and a cowboy posed behind him. _What is this_?

"Why, to Blackwatch of course." Reyes answered, eyes twinkling.

"Blackwatch?" Moira asked, intrigued. She'd not heard of the organization.

"The Black-Ops division of Overwatch." he replied.

"Overwatch has held back the pace of scientific discovery for decades," She stated. "Why should I bother myself with anything affiliated?" She didn't understand _why_ Overwatch would fire her only to hire her back again. She'd leap at the chance, but she didn't want to sound desperate; she didn't have a job but she still had her pride.

"No oversight, no rules, no stuffy brass; no one will even know you're employed..." Reyes trailed off.

"Why me? Moira replied.

"What, a brilliant scientist like you? For my own? How could I pass up the opportunity?"

Moira smiled, maybe this Reyes was likeable after all. She looked past him to see the two others were still in the same exact position. _Is that the Shimada boy that Angela saved?_

"Who are those fools posing behind you?" She asked, moving forward to grasp Reyes's extended hand.

"This is Genji and McCree, your new teammates." He gestured.

They glared at her.

"Brilliant."

**Angela:**

Angela stood outside the door to Moira's apartment, a quaint little building in the downtown core not far from the Swiss headquarters. After another hour of waiting, she'd gone to Moira's office and found it all packed up and empty, as though the woman had never been there at all.

She knocked once, twice, but there was no answer. Angela sighed, pulling out the spare key that Moira had given her months ago. She entered the apartment, but it was clear that Moira had not yet been home.

Angela felt a bit worried. _Where could she be_? She tried phoning Moira but instantly hit the answering machine, as though her phone were off.

Angela turned on a lamp and curled up on the couch. _If she doesn't come home soon_ , she thought, _I'll have to do something_. She drifted off into sleep, exhausted from the day's tribulations.

\-----------------------

Angela awoke to the sound of the apartment door opening.

Moira bustled in, looking quite surprised to see Angela on her couch.

"Angela?" she asked, moving to sit down by her feet as she slowly sat up.

"How did the meeting go?" Angela asked sleepily.

"I was... fired." Moira replied, curtly.

"Why didn't you come see me?" Angela asked.

"I was..." Moira shook her head. "I'm sorry Angela, I couldn't." Her face was unreadable.

"Couldn't what?" she prompted.

"Face you." Moira avoided her searching eyes.

This startled Angela. "Why not?"

"I didn't want you to see me like that."

"Like what?"

Moira bowed her head, pulling into herself. "...Disgraced."

They sat in silence, until Angela moved to put a hand on Moira's shoulder.

"Why were you experimenting on your arm?" She asked, gently.

"I was... trying to make it more receptive to technology, so that it won't reject implants." Moira replied, hesitantly.

"Why would you need implants?" Angela asked incredulously. Moira had never mentioned this before.

"I was thinking, with your nanite technology it may be possible to modify Valkyrie medics so that they no longer have to carry the Caduceus Staff."

Angela frowned, "What's wrong with the Caduceus Staff?"

"It's a bit... big and clunky." Moira answered, wincing as though she expected some sort of rebuttal.

Angela was offended, but a more pressing thought entered into her mind.

"Why wouldn't you talk to me about using my nanite technology?" What could Moira be up to?

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Moira lowered her head, looking guilty. "You know how much I adore your research, I thought maybe, after some of the collaborations we've done, I could help you improve it and its applications on the field."

Angela was relieved, that didn't sound as heinous as she expected. Still, she was upset with Moira for doing dangerous experiments on herself without warning anyone, and for not coming to her right away after the meeting and leaving her to worry.

"I've been with you for months and sometimes I feel like I don't even know you at all." She blurted suddenly.

There was a moment's silence as Moira turned to look her in the eye for the first time that night.

"We should... we should try to get to know each other better then." Moira said.

A pause. They sat quietly for several minutes.

"Moira, were your eyes always that colour?" Angela asked, blatantly.

"You think I was born with a naturally red eye?" Moira laughed. "No, that was an effect of my attempt to modify my genes to correct my vision."

"Does it bother you?" Angela asked.

"Does it bother you? I've grown quite fond of it." she sniffed. Angela thought she sounded a little offended.

No, it's... kind of endearing." She replied, and Moira flashed her a smile.

"Angela," Moira said hesitantly, "Tell me about your parents?"

Angela froze for a second. _Her parents_. Even this long after the pain was still fresh. She'd told Moira before that they'd died in the Omnic war.

"They were wonderful people," she replied, a quaver in her voice. "They're the reason I become a doctor, why I do my research, why I want to help people."

Moira moved in closer to hold her and she stopped for a moment to collect herself before continuing.

"They're my driving force. Why, I remember one time as a child when..."

\----------

The pair talked for hours, learning things about each other that brought them closer together, until finally there was a lull in the conversation.

Angela sighed, she had one more thing to ask. "Moira, where were you all this time, when I was waiting for you?"

"I was... You see... Reyes approached me..." she drifted off, looking worriedly at Angela.

_Of course!_ Angela thought. "Blackwatch?"

Moira looked startled. "How did you..?"

"Remember that injured Shimada clan member whose life I saved my technology? He's a Blackwatch agent and I go to do adjustments periodically, plus you know Gabe and I are old friends from when he was just an Overwatch agent."

"Oh." Moira replied.

"You accepted their offer of course?" She probed.

"Of course!" Moira replied, looking relieved.

It was getting quite late.

"You know, I really was worried about you. When you didn't wake up right away... When you passed out and stayed out. I was at your bedside for three days." Angela shivered.

Moira remained quiet for a moment, pensively looking at Angela.

"I... thank you." Was all she said.

They sat in silence again, the room dark except for the lamp Angela had turned on earlier.

"No more dangerous self-experimentation, and if you must have implants, you let _me_ install them." Angela stated. It wasn't a question.

"Agreed." Moira relented, slowly.

Angela suddenly thought of something funny. "Invited to Blackwatch, huh? You know Moira," she said, "You must really have the luck of the Irish."

Moira giggled, a high-pitched, lilting sound that Angela had never heard from her before, causing her to giggle back. Soon they both devolved into raucous laughter, falling off the couch and onto the floor, Angela laughing even harder when Moira's downstairs neighbour pounded on the ceiling in annoyance.

"St... Sto... Stop!" Moira gasped, "You're going to get me in trouble." She rolled onto her back, placing an arm over her eyes as she struggled to regain her breath.

"You _are_ in trouble." Angela growled playfully, sitting on Moira's stomach and bending over to grip her shoulders.

The moment was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise.

Angela looked at the clock, it was 3AM. "I'm starving."

"Me too. Pizza?" Moira asked, pulling out her cellphone. Angela nodded, stomach rumbling again in agreement, causing Moira to start laughing again. Angela put a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, and when that didn't work she bent down and used her lips.

\--------------

After they'd finished their late supper, curled up on the couch together, Moira looked down at Angela.

"You'll stay of course? It's quite late."

Angela smiled her agreement, squealing as Moira picked her up and carried her to the bedroom where they both promptly passed out, curled around each other.

It was only later, when she'd gone home, that Angela realized that she'd forgotten to ask Moira about her research and set to doing some research of her own. The papers she found were strange, she didn't understand the methods, the application, the results. The ethics were unsound. How had Moira gained participant consent? Angela felt troubled, but she set her doubts aside for the moment. After the evening they'd had, she was convinced that Moira couldn't have been anything other than honest and well-meaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Gaelic phrase in this chapter I found by googling rude things to say in Gaelic. Apparently it means something about needing a kick in the arse.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know some of you may be wondering where exactly i'm going with this and you'll just have to stay tuned ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still can't figure out how to put non-English characters into this thing.

**Moira:**

Moira sat at a table in the breakroom sipping on a lukewarm cup of coffee. Genji and McCree were sitting at another table on the other side of the room, pointedly ignoring her presence as they had since the first day they’d met. The last few weeks had been fairly uneventful as she adjusted to her new role in Blackwatch and the unbridled scientific possibilities at her fingertips. Moira sighed, getting up to dump the rest of the coffee down the sink. Blackwatch was an improvement over Overwatch in many ways, but it seemed bad coffee was just a staple of the entire organization.

She flexed her fingers, inspecting the small pieces of technology that she’d had Angela implant the week before. Her dreams were one step closer to fruition now: a little more work and she would not only be able to control healing nanites without issue, but use them to infiltrate and alter entire genomes without complicated tools as well. However, it wasn’t quite healed yet.

Reyes entered the breakroom, distracting Moira from her thoughts.

“Dr O’Deorain, can I speak to you for a minute?” he was unusually serious. Moira nodded her acquiescence, following him out the room at his sweeping gesture. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Genji and McCree watching her with sharp eyes. They were particularly fond of their commander, and Moira had noticed they seemed to view her as some sort of threat.

Reyes led her back to her own lab, ushering her in and shutting the door to any potential listeners.

“Amelie Lacroix has been kidnapped by Talon.” He said quietly. Moira was shocked, she hated Lacroix, but his wife? She had nothing to do with Overwatch.

“W… Why?” she asked.

“Lacroix is one of our best agents, it’s a threat plain and simple; they’re letting us know that our loved ones aren’t safe. We’re not doing well enough in this war effort, neither against the Omnics, nor against those terrorists.” Reyes shrugged despondently. “We’re going to get her back. I’m going to head up the search mission myself, but we need to start developing an edge that can help us against our enemies.”

“What kind of edge?” Moira questioned. She wasn’t sure what he was asking.

“Do you think it’s possible…” He paused for a second as though he was unsure of what he was about to say. “The paper that caused you to receive condemnation around the world, the one that put you on shaky ground with Overwatch originally, it was about creating custom genetic programs that can alter DNA at a cellular level, right?”

Moira grimaced, that paper had been the beginning of the end. Without it, she doubted that Overwatch would have been so heavy handed with her.

“Yes Gabriel, what about it?” She asked, suddenly tired. Was he here to pick at her vision as well, like her fellow geneticists and the entire scientific world had done?

“Dr. O’Deorain, do you think it’s possible to alter DNA to allow for advanced healing? Is there a way to reduce the severity of the casualties that our soldiers are receiving?”

Moira smiled, recognized at last. She flexed her fingers again.

“I’m certainly willing to try.”

**Angela:**

Now that Moira was a part of Blackwatch, she would be expected to do some fieldwork. Angela had personally built the Valkyrie suit for her to ensure that it would be flawless. The colours were the usual black and white, but she had thoughtfully added red for the accent, a colour she felt the fiery-haired woman would appreciate. She had also adjusted the shoulders to provide support for Moira’s back; the suits were surprisingly heavy, and with Moira’s exceptionally tall frame Angela wanted to ensure that her partner would not suffer any unnecessary strain.

Humming gently, she delicately wrapped the suit with care, placing it into a box for transport. It was sturdy of course, built for combat, but Angela wanted it to be perfect.

She arrived at Moira’s Blackwatch office, a dingy, dark room made worse by its location in the Blackwatch building, hidden entirely underground. Angela was one of very few Overwatch agents who knew of its location _and_ had clearance to enter; a virtue of the nature of her work.

“I have something for you meine schatzi” she said, presenting Moira with the box. Moira smiled at her and carefully took the gift, awkwardly leaning around to give Angela a quick hug and kiss. She tried and failed to avoid looking at the greyish pallor of Moira’s right hand, intertwined with technology.

“What’s the occasion, darling?” Moira asked, recapturing her attention.

“Open it and find out.” Angela said playfully, receiving a smile in return.

“Hopefully something work appropriate.” Moira retorted, earning her an embarrassed swat and a blush from Angela. She laughed at Angela’s reaction and Angela couldn’t help but giggle as well,

“Let’s see…” Moira swept some papers on her desk to the side, placing the box down. She opened it, revealing the Valkyrie suit inside. Angela waited for her reaction.

“Ooooh,” Moira said, looking Angela as she pulled the suit out, “It’s beautiful. Can I try it on now or do I have to wait?”

“Of course.” Angela nodded, blushing faintly as Moira began to remove her outerwear. Moira, catching Angela’s blush, smiled mischievously.

“Care to assist?” she asked, suggestively beginning to unbutton her dress shirt.

Angela rolled her eyes, but stepped forward anyway. She could see that Moira was having some trouble with her right hand.

“You’re in quite the mood for the middle of the day” she said as she finished unbuttoning Moira’s shirt, swatting lithe hands away from her own.

“Is it still early?” Moira laughed, “I can never tell down here.”

“It’s always dark in here,” Angela frowned, “They should give you more light.”

“Well I guess it’s called Blackwatch for a reason” Moira joked, and Angela groaned audibly. Humour had never been the woman’s strong suit.

“Let’s just get you suited up.”

\--

Moira’s Valkyrie suit fit perfectly.

“How does it feel?” Angela asked, pulling up Moira’s vitals on her laptop and checking the suit’s function.

“Like a second skin.” Moira smiled at her and picked up the mental amplifier headpiece that would help her control the suit’s abilities.

“I got you the standard Valkyrie style,” Angela said, “I didn’t think you would enjoy a custom halo piece like mine.”

“You know me well.” Moira laughed, as she promptly flipped it around and put it on the back of her head. “I’ve never claimed to be an angel, I’ll leave that to you.” She ran her fingers along the curves, highlighting the horn-like appearance of the device while making a devilish face at Angela.

“You’ve got it on backwards. It’s supposed to sit across your forehead for maximum brain interface support.” Angela shook her head at Moira, rolling her eyes at her antics.

Moira checked her reflection in the computer monitor. “I kind of like it actually. It’s more comfortable this way.” Moira replied. “Besides, it’s working fine.” She pointed to the computer link that did indeed show that the Valkyrie suit was functioning with 100% connection.

Angela frowned as a disturbing thought entered her mind. _Horns… Is this some kind of warning_? She quickly shook her head to drive the thought away; she’d already resolved earlier that Moira truly did have the best interest of humankind in mind.

“As long as it’s functioning properly… I would prefer you take on a less intimidating appearance for the sake of your colleagues, but if you must, I know I can’t stop you.” She conceded. Moira’s stubbornness was a force to be reckoned with, and Angela knew when to pick her battles.

“No, you can’t.” Moira replied absentmindedly, still running her fingers along the ends of her headpiece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I did write that bit specifically so I could sneak that joke in sorry/not sorry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After writing this chapter I've decided to change the archive warnings on the fic as I believe the following content may be upsetting to some. 
> 
> P.S. I'm also not a biologist.
> 
> P.S.S. I know it took me a long time to write this chapter but part of my planned storyline got derailed by that lore video.

**Moira:**

“Your genes continue to fascinate me, Gabriel.” She smiled at Reyes as she brought his genome map up on the computer screen.

He grunted at her in response, rubbing his shoulder self-consciously. “By-product of the soldier program, along with the various side effects.” He sat on the exam table, shirtless and covered with wires set up to various machines around Moira’s lab.

“It does to make my work more complicated,” Moira admitted, “But after I fix the damage and implement the advanced healing program it should take those side effects away.”

“Should? Sounds comforting.” He shifted his weight nervously.

Moira grunted this time, distracted by her work. She was double, triple, and quadruple-checking the problem areas she’d identified in Reyes’s genome for anything that she may have missed over the last few months as she’d tinkered with developing his request. She’d done this several dozen times by now, but it never hurt to be careful.

“No need to be concerned.” She murmured, as she finished her review, sweeping over to her computer to simulate the program one last time. She felt the pangs of nervousness and excitement start to mix in her stomach. If the experiment was successful, she would finally have the respect from the scientific community that she deserved, but if she was unsuccessful…

“How has your combat training been treating you?” Reyes asked, as though uncomfortable with the lull in conversation as the closeness of the procedure loomed over him, bringing Moira out of her thoughts. She smiled, the topic was safe enough and obviously comforting for a soldier like Gabriel.

“Well enough.” She could still feel the bruises on her body from yesterday's session. She’d been entered into a quick training regime to whip her into shape for clandestine missions.

Before she could elaborate her computer beeped, indicating that the simulation had completed. Moira quickly pored over the results, which were successful, as usual. She smiled.

“Are you ready Gabriel?” She asked, as she double-checked his vitals and primed the nanite program.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He replied stoically, betrayed by the beeping of the heart monitor and the sheen of sweat on his face.

“Relax, would I ever harm you on purpose?” She smiled comfortingly as she placed her modified arm on his shoulder, activating the program. Trillions of Nanites flooded into his body. Over the next month they would work quickly to target specific cells, replacing some of his existing DNA with the program she had written. The program would then be copied and reproduced at a highly accelerated rate, until only modified cells that promoted accelerated healing remained.

A dark coloured smoke started to drift off of Gabriel’s body.

He held his hands in front of him. “Moira, what’s happening?” he asked, panicked and horrified.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a by-product of the rapid healing program,” she soothed, “Your altered cells are rapidly degenerating and regenerating.  This means it’s working.” Her excitement was now palpable as she watched her medical instruments with eager eyes.

He looked up at her, not reassured in the least. “I look like a fucking ghost.”

Moira laughed. “Why don’t you go get some rest? By the time you wake up it should be under control. Mostly.”

“That’s not comforting.”

“That’s progress.”

\--

_Two Weeks Later_

“As you all know by now, Amelie Lacroix has been sighted near an abandoned building in Venice, Italy.” Gabriel spoke. Moira sat in the briefing room with Angela, Genji, and McCree.

“You may be wondering why Dr. Ziegler is with us.” He said, and Genji and McCree nodded. “While this is a covert mission, we don’t know what we’re going to face, and we don’t know what kind of shape Mrs. Lacroix will be in. As the foremost expert in healing, Dr. Ziegler has agreed to be our asset in this mission. Meanwhile, an Overwatch anti-terrorism ops team lead by Gerard will be scoping out the area ahead of our arrival to take out any opposition and secure the perimeter while we investigate inside.” He paused for a second. “Any questions?” Nobody moved. “Good, see you all on the plane in 30.”

As the rest of the team filed out of the room to prepare, Moira caught Gabriel by the shoulder on her way by.

“Gabriel please, can’t I convince you to sit this one out? You’re not fully healed from the procedure yet.”

“This is Gerard’s wife, Moira, I’m not sitting this one out.” He said, frustrated. They’d already had this conversation twice this morning. He turned as though to walk away, but paused. “Besides, you’ll be there if anything goes wrong, right?”

Moira sighed and nodded exasperatedly; her commander and friend was a very stubborn man. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Of course.” He said, then lowered his voice. “Moira,” Gabriel said carefully, “Don’t let anyone see you.”

Moira nodded slowly; she knew his head would be on the line if Overwatch knew she was working with Blackwatch.

Gerard especially was a threat.

\--

Moira felt tense as she began her first field mission. They were inside an old, rotting castle, only still standing due to the fact that most of it was made of stone. The Overwatch ops team had swept the outside, finding nothing, giving the Blackwatch team the go ahead to investigate the inside. The building was dark and full of creeping shadows. Not wanting to use lights and risk giving away their position, Genji and McCree took point, assisted by Genji’s cybernetically enhanced senses. They were followed by Moira and Angela, both with weapons drawn. Reyes pulled up the rear, ensuring no harm would come from behind. They silently crept through, clearing room to room for what seemed like hours, trying to avoid stepping on rotting wood wherever possible. At one point, McCree’s foot broke through the floor with a loud crash, earning him a sprained ankle and a lecture from Angela as Moira quickly healed him.

Eventually, they came upon a hole in the wall that lead into an empty, enclosed courtyard. Pieces of stone littered the area as though the destruction of the wall had been on purpose, instead of the result of natural decay. Genji signaled that there was nothing behind the wall, and that they should keep going down the hallway.

Genji had and McCree had just made it to the other side and Moira and Angela were in the middle when the sound of a rope hook clacking against stone drew Moira’s attention.

The men appeared as if from nowhere, dropping to the ground; a whole squad clad in Talon gear in the opening of the rubble.  Reyes was too far behind, and Genji and McCree were too far ahead to reach them in time. Moira was partially hidden by a chunk of stone, but Angela was caught out in the open. Two on six were not particularly good odds. “Fuck.” She said, there was nothing they could do.

Moira watched as the men raised their guns towards her girlfriend and then she did something that was from her point of view, incomprehensively stupid; she leaped in front of Angela.

Moira gasped as the bullets ripped through her and she crashed to the ground. Her ears were ringing. It was hard to breath.

She coughed and the white hot _pain_ that shot through her hurt worse than the bullets had.

The Valkyrie suit hadn’t protected her.

_Angela hadn’t protected her_. The invasive thought entered her mind, and she tried to shake it out of her head but that only caused more pain.

_Angela_. Was Angela safe? Somewhere in the distance she could hear yelling, but couldn’t make out what was being said. She could hear the fighting as shot after shot rang out, almost indistinguishable from one to the next.

Cool wind passed over her face as Genji’s spirit dragon drifted by.

Gabriel collapsed onto the ground next to her, but she couldn’t turn to see if he was alive.

It was all happening fast, so fast.

Numbness began to spread through her as she put a hand to her chest and pulled it away, sticky and covered in blood.

Her vision was beginning to fade.

The yelling continued.

Why were they yelling? It all seemed so unimportant now.

Through her tears, she saw Angela’s face swim into view over hers.

Angela was safe.

That was something important.

Good.

She reached upwards, cradling Angela’s face in her hand. Moira smiled as the darkness crowded in.

Her hand slowly drifted from Angela’s face, leaving a smear of blood in its wake as it fell to the ground.

**Angela:**

Angela gripped her staff tightly in her hands, using it to hold herself up in her grief. The enemy team was dead, but so were Moira and Gabriel. _Moira_ , she thought, _why?_ Anguish gripped her heart and she almost collapsed. Tears were filling her vision, but there was no time to wallow; she still had time to fix this.

Without taking time to wipe her eyes, she rapidly prepared her nanites for the resurrection.

“Help.” She whispered, and Genji and McCree supported her as she lifted her staff and a yellow cloud drifted over her fallen teammates.

Moira coughed and spluttered, sitting up. Before she could do anything else, Angela abandoned all training protocol and threw her staff down, running to jump into the arms of the recently revived woman.

“Moira.” She gasped, arms encircled around the other’s neck as she planted a kiss on her lips. “Why would you do something so stupid?”

“Ah, I’m alive… and so are you!” Moira stated, laughing with joy and then suddenly growing concerned. “The others?”

“Don’t worry Moira, everyone’s fine, Gabe was hit too but he-“. Angela turned to look at Gabriel only to realize that he was still dead.

“No,” She stated in shock, “What?” Angela crawled out of Moira’s lap, reaching over to touch her fallen friend. “But I used the nanites?”

As she laid a hand on his chest, he suddenly sat upright.

“What happened?” He gasped. There was a strange smoky quality to the air around him, dust left over from the gunfight, Angela assumed.

“Gabriel you were hurt, the res didn’t work properly, at least not right away.” She swallowed. “I’m not sure why, I…“ Angela trailed off, unable to put her confusion into words.

Gabriel looked to Moira who nodded at him hesitantly.

He stood up, flexing his arms and the smoky air around him suddenly cleared. Strange.

“Let’s go team.” He said, retrieving his gun from where it had fallen.

“Gabriel, we need to get you proper medical attention, something’s gone wrong.” Moira spluttered out.

“I feel fine.” Gabriel stated. “It can wait until after the mission.” He signaled to Genji and McCree to start moving again.

Angela turned to look at Moira but the woman avoided her gaze, falling into position.

Angela wasn’t quite sure what had just happened, but she filed her thoughts away, quickly healing the minor wounds herself and the other two had received during the fight.

Gabriel radioed in to the Overwatch team to let them know to be wary of Talon activity, and then they set off down the hall, more cautiously than before.

It wasn’t long until they reached another room. In contrast to the darkness of rest of the building, light leaked out through the cracks of the rotting door. Genji warned that there was a heat signature inside, and Gabriel quickly signaled out a plan to the rest of them.

Angela stood back with Moira, ready to heal any wounds as Gabriel kicked down the door and burst inside with Genji and McCree following close behind. After a few moments, punctuated by sounds of a woman speaking, shuffling, and the opening of drawers and cupboards, Genji appeared in the doorway to beckon them inside.

In the room on a bed against the wall sat Amelie Lacroix, awake and unharmed, chatting with Gabriel.

Gabriel took a quick step towards Angela, reaching an arm out as though to beckon her forward, and promptly collapsed onto the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick and short chapter for you guys. This and the next one will be relatively small while I start setting up for the climax. I hope that you are still enjoying this story as I try and improve my writing skills.
> 
> As always I appreciate your comments and any feedback.

**Angela:**

It took two full weeks for Gabriel to wake up, calling out suddenly in the middle of the night from his bed in the Overwatch med bay. Angela was there at once, having been sleeping in her office nearby. She’d been working nonstop since that fateful day in Italy.

She’d been looking after Amelie during that period as well, doing test after test to look for any ill consequences of her captivity, but none were found. She’d sent the women home several nights ago as she’d been the picture of health, and truth be told she was more concerned about Gabriel. She hadn’t even had time for Moira, who had left her several messages over the period of time. She’d have to apologize, but surely Moira would understand due to the workload she was under; Gabriel had been expressing some very serious symptoms. Several times she’d been running tests on him only for him to turn from a solid person into a cloud of dark smoke, completely destroying any results. She didn’t understand how this was possible.

Gabriel didn’t say anything as she entered the room. She sat down in the chair next by his bedside. He peered at her, his face pale and full of discomfort. The normally very happy man looked incredibly angry. Her face flushed in shame: she blamed herself for this.

Angela took his hand as she swirled words around in her mind, trying to come up with the right thing to say. She didn’t understand how her technology could have failed. She didn’t know why he was having such strange and serious side effects, effects that had never occurred during any testing of the res system.

“I’m sorry Gabriel, I don’t know what went wrong with the resurrection.” She finally said, turning her head away from the judgement that she expected to receive. She squeezed his hand involuntarily in anticipation of his response.

“It wasn’t your fault, it was _hers_.” He rasped, squeezing her hand back, the pressure suddenly changing to nothing as he turned into a cloud of smoke and then rematerialized in an instant. He looked down at himself in disgust but didn’t say anything else.

“What do you mean?” Angela asked, surprised. Why wasn’t he startled by his dematerialization? She shifted in her chair uncomfortably. Was he expecting it?

“Moira.” He spat, his grip tightening painfully on her hand, causing her to grimace in response.

“Moira? Moira’s sorry that she got in the way and caused you to get hurt. She didn’t _want_ anything bad to happen to you.”

“ _No_.” He growled. “She’s the reason the resurrection failed.” He was struggling to speak, as he dissociated once again.

“Take it slow.” Angela urged, her medical instincts kicking in despite the questions burning in her brain.

Before their conversation could continue, there was a knock at the door and her Overwatch colleague Lena Oxton burst through. Angela opened her mouth to rebut her for her rudeness, but quickly recognized the signs of distress on Lena’s face.

“Angie,” Lena gasped out, “It’s Gerard, he’s been killed.” There were tears trailing down her cheeks, and she leaned on the doorframe for support.

“Killed? By who?” Angela stood up in shock with such force that she knocked over her chair.

Lena took a big breath, fresh tears leaking out as she struggled to respond.

“Amelie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gee Angela, maybe if you had answered your phone, Moira would have had something important to tell you.
> 
> P.S. You may be wondering why Gabe is suddenly very angry with Moira esp after asking for her help and being warned that there could be consequences to anything happening to him. The lore seems to point to a very serious personality change that occurs in him sometime after Moira's testing, which i'd like to think is a result of both him being upset and a consequence of the genetic program.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: funeral

**Moira:**

Gerard’s funeral was a dull affair. Moira had gone only to comfort Angela, who had been rather fond of the man. Moira however, had never forgotten how he’d treated her on her fateful final day at Overwatch; the memories of his distasteful comments about her research clouded any semblance of grief.

The true tragedy was the mystery of Amelie. Why had she killed her husband? Why had she fled?

Moira was distracted from her thoughts by Angela crying against her shoulder as they finally took their place in front of the casket to pay their respects. Moira suspected that it was more than just sadness that Angela was feeling. Guilt, Moira was sure, was responsible for more than a few of those tears.

Angela was the one who had examined Amelie, the one who had determined that she was unharmed and safe to return to her loving husband’s arms. The same loving husband that lay before them in his casket, the work of a very skilled mortician giving him a façade of normalcy.

Moira hated open-casket funerals.

She wrapped an arm around Angela, trying to comfort her. “Heroes never die, Angela, they continue on in our memory.” Angela weakly smiled back at Moira through her tears. The two hadn’t had time for each other since that fateful day. Angela had been busy with both Amelie and Gabriel, and Moira had been busy trying to work out what damage had been done to Gabriel by the resurrection. The problem had been made much more frustrating by her lack of access to the patient, hidden away as he was in the Overwatch facility, and Angela’s lack of response to her phone calls.

As she and Angela returned to the edges of the crowd, Moira turned to Angela to say her goodbye. She knew she needed to speak to Angela, but she didn’t want to stay there any longer. She’d noticed a few people furtively glancing at her and whispering among themselves. The disgraced former Overwatch doctor, here at the funeral, with her arm around Overwatch’s top doctor? Her fiery red hair helped her stand out in the crowd, and she knew that Angela had noticed too.

“Wait Moira, I need to talk to you about something… about Gabriel.” Angela said, wiping her tears as Moira turned away.

She hesitated.

“Not here… Come to my apartment later, we can discuss it then.” She gave Angela a quick hug and the other woman nodded before being absorbed back into the crowd.

\--

As Moira turned to close the door to her apartment and flip on the light, she heard a rustling noise behind her. Before she could turn, her arms were pinned as a hand roughly pushed a damp rag over her mouth. She tried to struggle, but her efforts were useless as the chemical quickly eroded her consciousness away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BUCKLE THE **** UP.
> 
> Sorry that I've taken so long so to post this! But I've had the next chapter written since December, just have some refining to do and hope to post it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Somebody gets hit twice today under uncomfortable circumstances

**Moira:**

Moira was uncomfortable. She could feel her arms behind her, but she couldn’t make them move. _What?_ She thought, as she slowly opened her eyes. _Oh_. The memory surged back in: she had been kidnapped. A dimly lit, gray metal room filled her vision as she tried again to pull her arms forward and realized that they were tied together. She attempted to stand, only to realize that her legs too, were tied— she was trapped.

“You’re awake, good.” A deep voice spoke and it was only then that Moira realized that she was not alone. Out of the shadows stepped a tall, shirtless man, the metal armor covering his right arm glinting in the low light. Moira inhaled in surprise, unable to contain her surprise.

“I know you, you’re--.”

The man reached out with his left arm as though to silence her. Moira swallowed. Doomfist; she was in Talon’s grasp.

“I’m glad you know who I am doctor, you might be pleased to know that I know who you are as well.”

Moira was not pleased. There was nothing pleasing about catching the attention of a ruthless psychopath.  She opened her mouth to respond and found that it was completely dry. The man smiled at her, creasing the painted lines on his face. She straightened her back, trying to look as though she were unconcerned with her current situation.

“There’s no need to be troubled doctor, I have but a simple request.” He snapped his fingers, and a door opened. Bright light flooded in and Moira squinted, finding the sudden rush painful. Two black-clad soldiers walked in, carrying a tied bundle that they lowered onto the floor. Moira looked at Doomfist quizzically, but he gestured towards the bundle. Moira’s eyes followed, and she realized that that the mass was a person. Using his foot, Doomfist turned her over, revealing an unconscious Amelie Lacroix.

Moira’s surprised gasp filled the room. She didn’t understand. She couldn’t even formulate the questions in her brain. Her eyes closed as she attempted to process the sensory overload.

She felt Doomfist walk over to where she sat, tied and unable to move. He pulled up a chair in front of her, and waited.

If Amelie was a prisoner than she had not murdered her husband of her own accord. Had Doomfist had a ‘simple’ request for her as well? _What is going to happen to me?_ She could feel beads of sweat building on her forehead as she concentrated; her life depended on what happened next.

Moira opened her eyes to look at the man in front of her. “What do you… want?” Moira asked, voice shaking involuntarily. Her typical calm and collected attitude had failed her as fear started to creep in.

“I read your paper, your genetics research. You are going to turn this woman into a perfect assassin for me.”

She gaped at Doomfist and he smiled back at her. “The mental modifications have already been done, only the physical ones are needed.”

“And if I refuse? Are you going to—brainwash me too?” Darkness was creeping in along the edges of her vision at the thought.

“We wouldn’t dare risk the damage to your knowledge and intelligence.” He paused, and Moira started to relax. “No, if you refuse, we are going to kill Dr. Angela Ziegler.”

Moira surrendered to the darkness.

\--

Water was being thrown in her face. “Wake up doctor, our conversation isn’t over yet.

Moira kept her eyes shut. Water was dripping down her face comingled with sweat as she ground her teeth together, a burst of anxiety building in her chest. _This can’t be real, it can’t it can’t it can’t--.”_ A punch to her stomach knocked the air out of her. She opened her eyes in shock, closing them again as she saw Doomfist pull his arm back for another strike.

“I have been avoiding physical punishments because I require you in one piece, but if you do not cooperate then I will have no choice.”

Moira looked up at her captor.

“You will return home and continue with your work as though everything is fine. Every evening after work you will meet a Talon agent outside of your apartment and he will bring you to a secure facility where you will work on my assassin. You will not tell anyone what you are doing. If you tell anyone about this, or anyone finds out what you are doing, then Angela Ziegler dies. Do you understand the rules of this engagement?”

Moira nodded, it was the only thing she was capable of. Doomfist smiled again, reaching behind her to undo the ropes.

For the first time in her life, Moira felt firmly out of control.

**Angela:**

Angela found herself once again waiting in a dark apartment for a woman that wasn’t there. She had to speak to Moira about what she had done to Gabriel Reyes. Angela sat on Moira’s couch, head in her hands. Moira had promised that she would be here, where was she?

Just as Angela was starting to get worried she heard the doorknob turn, and Moira slowly walked into the apartment. Angela stood up to greet her and Moira jumped as though frightened.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Angela said as she walked towards the other woman, before taking her appearance into consideration. “You’re all wet!” she exclaimed.

Moira was giving her a strange look that she didn’t understand.

 “I… fell.” Moira responded. “Into a-uh–puddle.”

 “Oh dear, why don’t you go get cleaned up?” Angela tutted concernedly, unconsciously going into doctor-mode. Moira nodded and walked off down the hallway towards her bedroom.

_Strange_ , Angela thought, twisting her mouth into a frown. Moira wasn’t known to be clumsy.

\--

When Moira returned, the pair settled down on the couch with some tea that Angela had made to warm her partner up. There was something _off_ about Moira; she looked haunted, her eyes darted around the room as she rubbed at her wrists under her long-sleeved shirt.

“Are you alright?” Angela was concerned.

“Fine, just a bit drained from the funeral and all.” Moira smiled, suddenly leaning back into the couch. Her lips curled upwards, but Angela noticed that the smile didn’t meet her eyes. There was a strange and uncomfortable tension in the room. Something was wrong, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Moira’s cup rattled in its saucer as she held it.

“I’d let you rest if it wasn’t so important, but Moira, Gabriel told me that you’d done something to him...” she trailed off, unsure of what to ask, the strange atmosphere distracting her from her purpose.

“Gabriel came to me several months ago and asked me to alter his genome.” Moira said instantly, matter-of-factly as she took a sip of her tea. “So I did, but the process wasn’t quite done by the time we’d learned where Amelie was located.”

“You… altered his genome?” Angela asked quizzically.

“Yes.” Moira was looking down at her shaking teacup.

“And didn’t tell me?” Her fingers curled around each other.

“I tried.” Moira still wouldn’t meet Angela’s eyes

“When?” Angela asked, shuffling in her seat. She was uncomfortable now, the strange atmosphere getting to her. She also couldn’t remember any such conversation.

“You haven’t been answering your phone, and I didn’t want to leave top-secret information in a message.” She said, dryly.

“I haven’t been answering my phone because I’ve been trying to figure out what was wrong with Gabe.” She sighed in annoyance. “Moira- why didn’t you tell me before the mission?”

“It was a top-secret procedure.” The rattling of Moira’s teacup became much louder and she set it down on the coffee table.

This was absurd. “As Overwatch’s chief medical examiner you should have told me I had every right to kn-.”

“ _Overwatch’s_ chief medical examiner, not _Blackwatch’s_.” Moira interrupted, shaking her head.

Angela couldn’t believe her. Why was she being so difficult? Had she always had this cold attitude?

“Moira! Don’t you care that Gabriel is hurt? He was unconscious for two weeks! If I’d known you’d changed his genome I could have accounted for it during the resurrection, I could have accounted for it in his treatment!”

Moira gave her a pained look. “Of course I care, it wasn’t my intention for him to get hurt. It wasn’t my business to tell you what procedure I’d performed on him.”  

“Moira, these injuries, they could have been prevented if only you’d just told someone. He could have _died_. If Talon had killed or captured us-”

Moira suddenly flinched, before snapping. “This is just as much your fault as it was mine, Angela. Sometimes playing God has consequences!”

Angela stiffened, personally insulted. “I _do not_ play God.”

“Running around in an angel costume raising people from the dead sounds pretty God-like to me.” There was venom in Moira’s voice.

“Moira, I save people’s _lives_ , what you’ve done has hurt Gabe, he didn’t consent to becoming a _smoke cloud_.” Angela was disgusted. Where had this come from?

“He consented to the procedure, he knew that there could be consequences. Do you ask people’s consent before you bring them back to life, before doing what must be done? We’re one and the same.”

“Don’t you dare compare me to _you_.” Angela spat before she could think about what she was saying, far too much malice in her voice. She threw her hand over her mouth, but it was already too late.

“I didn’t know you disliked me that much.” The pained expression on Moira’s face had grown; she was upset by Angela’s comment.

“I didn’t mean… Moira, I--.” Angela relaxed her posture, but before she could finish her sentence, Moira interrupted her.

“Gabriel himself asked for this Angela, he had a choice. But did Genji? He had no choice.” Her hurt had transformed into anger.

Genji? Why was she bringing up Genji?

“I didn’t know,” she whispered slowly, trying to defuse the conversation now that it had turned on her, “that they were going to make him murder his own family.”

 “You didn’t know, you didn’t _KNOW_? You weaponized him and thought that they would send him on his way just like that?” Moira snapped her fingers patronizingly. “Ignorance is not a defence Angela.”

“Why are you talking to me like this?” Angela whispered.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know.” Moira stated “Too many.” She was pacing now, erratic in her behaviour.

Angela didn’t understand. “Tell _me_ Moira.” She urged. “What’s happened? If you could just calm down I-.”

It was like she had flipped a switch, and the unknown tension that had simmered throughout their entire conversation finally boiled over.

“Do you have any idea the pressure I’m under? _Do you_?” Moira was suddenly screaming in her face, gripping her shoulders painfully.

Angela had tears streaming down her face. She slapped Moira in fear, pushing her away. She couldn’t deal with this.

“How about I remove some of that pressure?” She dropped her key to the apartment on the table, picked up her coat, turned, and walked out, leaving Moira staring after her.

“Angela, _please_.” She heard Moira fall to her knees, as though she realized the mistake she had made.

But Angela was already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All aboard the angst train choo choo.
> 
> (I made myself sad writing this and i'm compelled to fix that as soon as possible.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Angela:**

It had been years since Angela had walked out of Moira’s apartment in tears on that fateful day.

Years since she’d turned on the TV and saw the news of the Venice incident that implicated Moira in a Blackwatch scandal resulting in her disavowal by Overwatch.

Years since the news about Blackwatch ruined Overwatch’s reputation.

Years since the rumours about Moira reached her ears and were all but confirmed when a genetically enhanced Amelie Lacroix appeared on the battlefield and killed Ana along with several good Overwatch soldiers.

Years since the explosion of the Swiss headquarters and the deaths of her two good friends: Gabriel and Jack.

Years since the disbandment of Overwatch.

Angela had filled her time working in hospitals, developing medical tools, and saving thousands of lives. Yet, despite her success, a part of her felt empty. She had never dated since her years with Overwatch, politely rebuffing any advances with the notion that she was married to her work.

But in truth, she had never gotten over Moira. She never understood how she could have let herself fall so deeply for the woman, when it became clear that she was deliberately callous, evil even. How could Angela have felt that despite Moira’s quirks, she was a truly caring and loving person with the best interest of others in mind? Perhaps the woman had been a sociopath, and yet, it had all seemed so real.

Angela’s thoughts were brought on by her current presence as a guest at a medical hospital in the Middle East. Moira had disappeared for years after the collapse of Overwatch, yet resurfaced in the marvel of Oasis as one of the city’s leaders. She was so close by that if Angela really wanted to she could go – no. Angela shook her head, distracted from her experiment, Moira was a criminal.

Yet, still she yearned for her. Angela looked up from her research with a frustrated sigh, imagining the smart, beautiful, and fiery Irish woman that she had once thought loved her.

Angela was distracted further by her ringing cellphone. It was playing a tone she hadn’t heard in years, a tone she’d set for - “Winston?” Angela answered quickly.

“Hi Angela,” the gorilla replied distractedly and she could almost see him adjusting his glasses, “I’m sending out a recall.”

**Moira:**

It had been years since Moira had ruined everything.

Years since the day that she had turned her best friend into a fiend, only half-alive.

Years since the day that she had destroyed her relationship with the woman she so well and truly loved.

Years since the day she had willingly gone to Talon to turn a woman she’d once rescued into an unfeeling, killing machine.

Years since everything had ruined Moira in return, all of it her own fault.

The passing of time had made Moira O’Deorain bitter, as though the meaning of her name, ‘bitter child of exile’, had been a prophecy. Angela had been the one to encourage the good in her, but in her absence all that was left was empty space and a voracious appetite for knowledge at any cost.

Moira’s heart had a hole in it, a hole that she could not fill, no matter what she did, no matter what she accomplished.

She had continued to do business with Talon for a long time, even once she had been called to Oasis to act as the Minister of Genetics, the foremost expert in the field. At first, she had only been a willing participant due to their threats to Angela’s life, even though the woman had abandoned her. But now? She had been complicit in their criminal acts for so long that even after Akande had been imprisoned, she’d no choice but to stay.

At least they treated her well. They’d allowed her to work on whatever she wanted with no constraints, they’d allowed her to perfect the research she’d started at Overwatch so long ago.

But none of it could fill the hole.

Moira was lost in thought in her Oasis office when a cloud of smoke drifted through her window.

“Doomfist is free,” it said as it transformed into a man. “He’s requested your presence at a meeting in Venice.”

Moira stiffened and turned in her chair to look up at the shadowy man who had once been a beacon of kindness.

“Why?” she asked. She didn’t relish the thought of seeing Akande again; she’d been relieved when he was locked away, the memory of her torture at his hands still fresh in her mind.

“Overwatch has been reformed, and they’ve been getting in the way of our objectives.” He responded curtly, no longer one for extraneous speech.

Moira felt a chill wash over her as she gripped the arms of her chair in shock. _Overwatch_.

“This is unprecedented, their reformation is illegal!” Overwatch had long been outlawed, hated world round despite everything they’d done to protect.

“Precisely, which means no one will get in our way when we kill them.” He spoke with no emotion in his voice. Moira looked at him in shock; she wished she could see underneath that mask.

“If I… if I don’t want to participate in this, Gabriel?” Moira was suddenly tired, she was too old for this. She couldn’t escape Talon, but that didn't mean she wished ill on her former coworkers.

He snorted at her callously. “As though either of us have ever had a choice.” She twitched, knowing that in part his own lack of choice was due to her, and that he was well aware of that.

“Will you not hesitate to move against people you once considered your friends?” she asked calmly, already half-knowing the answer. Reaper only chuckled darkly and turned to leave.

She looked out the window absentmindedly after him, pensive and dreaming back to the time when a smart, beautiful, and kind Swiss woman had loved her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would just like to add in a trigger warning that this chapter details a combat situation, and contains about 38 words detailing a single moment containing suicidal feelings that are instantly resolved for the better.

**Angela:**

Angela was taking shelter behind a burning vehicle. “ _Scheisse.”_ She muttered as she expertly reloaded her pistol. It was a trap; Talon had lured them here. Her caduceus staff lay on the ground next to her but there was no use for it; she’d been cut off from her team ages ago, her communication device destroyed.

The fight had moved to the other side of a burnt-out office building. Angela could hear the shouts of her comrades, and while it sounded like they were holding their own, she knew she had to get back. She peered around the edge of the car, the Talon soldier she’d just shot lay sprawled out in front of her, dead. She quickly look away from him; Angela may have had a gun but that didn’t mean she enjoyed taking life. She cautiously edged out, looking to see if the way was clear. She crawled forward on the sharp pavement, the smoke above providing mild cover as she moved towards the ruined building. Hopefully it would provide a quick and safe route to the other side.

The bodies of Talon soldiers littered the floor. Angela’s stomach churned as she gingerly picked her way across, trying and failing to not look at any faces. When she was halfway across a shock of red hair, vibrantly painted with blood, grabbed her attention.

It was _Moira_.

Angela thought she might puke as she bent over the fallen woman. A pair of lifeless mismatched eyes gazed up at her and she was reminded of a similar situation that had occurred a long time ago.

She automatically reached for her caduceus staff, but the she hesitated. What was she doing? Moira was an enemy, Moira had _long_ been an enemy. Yet, even so, she felt compelled to raise and activate her staff.

Angela bitterly fought back tears, unable to suppress the love that had never faded away. Moira was old, too old to be fighting on the battlefield, especially for a terrorist organization. Stupid fool, she thought, but whether she was referring to the woman or herself as she resurrected her, she did not know.

Eyes, once clouded over in death, filled with miraculous light and suddenly Moira sat up, coughing and gasping as a golden glow kneaded her wounds back together. She looked up at Angela in terror and formed into a cloud of smoke, drifting backwards and collapsing against a crumbled wall in pain. Angela’s stomach instantly twisted in regret, how could she have been so foolish? “Oh, so you used what you did to Gabe to make an improvement on yourself?” She called out, taunting the other woman, as she approached, weapon trained on her. Angela cursed herself for her stupidity as she walked forward. Here she’d gone and made a new problem for herself because she couldn’t control her own emotions. If she could only keep Moira here, then she could be taken into custody and made to pay for her crimes.

Moira pressed a hand to her chest, hiding a hole from view as a dribble of blood spilled out of her mouth. “We’ve had a similar conversation before; it didn’t end well.” She spoke almost absentmindedly, as though she didn’t recognize the gravity of the situation.

“Shut. Up.” Angela uttered shakily, in a failed attempt to clear it up for her. This drew the other woman’s full attention.

“Everything I ever did was for you.” Moira hissed, face twisted in either anger or pain. It didn’t matter which to Angela, who couldn’t help but laugh at this statement in her shock.

“Everything you ever did was for _me_?” She asked incredulously, disgusted. “You hurt people and became a terrorist, and want to blame it on _me_?” Angela adjusted the shaking grip she had on her gun, decades worth of unresolved anger boiling up inside of her.

Moira looked at her sharply. “I’m not a terrorist.”

“Moira you’re aiding a terrorist group. You’re a terrorist.”

“Nonsense.” Moira sniffed. Angela couldn’t believe her.

“The people you’re helping are killing people, killing people you used to work with, right now as we speak. You could have done something to stop this, you _should_ have done something to stop this.” Angela gestured wildly.

Moira paled visibly. “They, they never cared about me.” She shuffled her hands together.

“You never let them.” Angela snapped.

“It’s not like I wanted this to happen, I didn’t even want to be here.” She looked up at Angela with a resigned expression.

“Are you _fucking_ kidding me? What excuse could you possibly have?” Angela was almost exasperated, this situation was ridiculous, _why_ was she entertaining this conversation? Why couldn’t she just let go?

Moira’s eyes centered on hers. “They were going to kill you.” She said, slowly and with absolute sincerity.

“What?!” Angela felt dizzy, the sounds of the battlefield outside filled her mind and she felt sick to her stomach.

“I didn’t want to lose you, not that it ever mattered.” Moira laughed bitterly, on her knees.

“What do you mean?” Angela whispered, startled.

“That day, Gerard’s funeral. Talon kidnapped me and told me they would kill you if I didn’t cooperate.” Moira stated, matter-of-factly.

“You mean you weren’t working for them before Gerard died? You weren’t responsible for his death?” Angela pressed.

“Of course not, though I know how it looks. I hated him, but I wasn’t involved in his death.” Her eyes bore into Angela’s.

“And Amelie?” Angela’s breath hitched in her throat. She believed her.

“They’d already broken her mind, Angela, they made her kill her own husband. What I did to her, taking all feeling away? Maybe that was a _mercy_.” Moira chuckled inanely.

“And afterwards? Why would you continue helping them for decades?”

“What choice did I have? It wasn’t a one-time thing. Even if they weren’t threatening you, I was still _complacent_.” The last word slipped out with a hiss.

“You should have _told_ someone, Moira. All of this could have been stopped, Overwatch could have protected me.” Angela shook her head.

“You think so?” Moira asked. “When did they ever succeed in protecting their own? I wasn’t willing to take that _chance_.” Her eyes flashed wildly.

“All of the _lives_ , Moira. All of the lives lost because you were too cowardly.” Tears filled Angela’s eyes. She would have gladly sacrificed herself if it had meant Talon would have been stopped before they could have caused such harm.

“Was it cowardice to protect the life of the woman I loved? Your life is far more valuable than most, _Doctor Ziegler_ , the research you’ve developed has saved far more lives than you could possibly imagine. This childish black and white moral ethic you’ve always professed doesn’t fit in this world. Everything is grey, so blindingly grey.” Moira’s voice was harsh, but Angela wasn’t listening.

“Yet here you are with your terrorist friends, trying to kill me.” She was shouting now, deriding Moira’s hypocrisy despite the battle situation going on nearby.

“I couldn’t stop this from happening.” Moira looked away from her, refusing to meet her gaze for the first time that night. “I failed you, I’ve always failed you.”

“I can’t do this Moira, I can’t.” Angela dropped to her knees. The gravity of the situation was too much, the revelation of the cause of twenty years of pain rushed over her. She gripped her gun even tighter between her fingers as she sought to pull herself back to reality. “Every second I waste here, one of my friends dies outside.”

“Then there’s nothing left to say.” Moira smiled at her sadly, _beautifully_. She reached out for Angela’s hands, pulling the gun in close to her own chest. “I’ll make it easy for you.” I’m sorry, Angela, for everything.”

Angela snatched her hands away, pistol clattering to the ground.

“There’s still time to stop this, to stop Talon, you still have time to make it right.” She laid a hand on Moira’s cheek. “Come with me, we’ll evacuate the Overwatch team, and then all of that knowledge you’ve been accumulating can be put to good use.” Hope rose in Angela’s chest as she spoke.

Moira’s hand travelled to the one resting on her cheek as she looked deeply into Angela’s eyes. She nodded, unable to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me thus far, i'm sorry that I've taken so long to write this. Please let me know what you think of the chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long time in coming.

**Angela:**

  
Angela stared through the interview window at the fiery-haired woman within. The dim lightbulb overhanging the room cast deep shadows, giving Moira a sharper and more sinister appearance. Angela couldn’t see any emotion through the shadows on her face as Moira sat bent over the table in front of her.

  
“You said she was going to talk.” Growled Jack, startling Angela with his sudden appearance beside her.

  
“Let _me_ go talk to her.” Angela asserted confidently, eyes flicking away from Jack and back to the window, despite feeling no confidence at all.

  
“Why should I?” Jack countered, and Angela felt the weight of years of blame, intentionally placed or not, that she had not stopped this woman at the very beginning when she could have.

  
“This is my duty Jack… my responsibility.” She spoke after a few moments of silence, squaring her shoulders and looking him directly in the eye.

  
Jack finally nodded his acquiescence, seeming to drop his grizzled expression for a moment before putting his hand lightly on Angela’s shoulder in a gesture of support.  
A meaningless gesture.

  
Angela turned and walked into the interview room.

  
Moira didn’t even look up, seemingly focused on a speck on the interview table. Her hands were folded behind her neck, elbows resting on the table.

  
To Angela she appeared almost distraught. Angela automatically began to frown in concern, and then straightened her face; she didn’t need another moment of weakness like the one on the battlefield. Why couldn’t she let this woman go?

  
Moira spoke without looking at her.

  
“This reminds me of that day.”

  
“What day?” Angela asked sharply. She was supposed to be interrogating Moira after all.

  
“The day Akande came for me. The room was almost identical, right down to the piece of shit metal chair and the lack of proper lighting. Must be a standardized practice.” Moira let out a noise halfway between a sob and a giggle.

  
“Moira, we’re not going to torture you.” Angela’s voice softened slightly.

  
“No?” Moira asked, still staring at the speck on the table. “You should, I’ve earned it.” She smiled, but Angela saw that it was a smile of nervous acceptance rather than Moira’s usual bravado.

  
“We’re not Talon.” Angela prodded.

  
Moira shifted and looked at the wall above Angela’s head. “No…” She took a deep breath as though she were going to say something of importance, but then she exhaled it and returned to looking down at the table, the thought lost to the intricacies of Moira’s mind.

  
“What do you want, Moira?” Angela watched the shadows dance on Moira’s face as she switched through different several different expressions in rapid succession.

  
“You know there’s only one thing I’ve ever wanted Angela,” Moira stopped and took a deep breath, mismatched eyes flickering between the table and her face, “You.”

  
A moment of silence grew between them. Angela couldn’t decide what emotion to feel. She settled on the easy one, the justified one: anger.

  
She clenched her hands together. “There’s still a lot we need to discuss. I don’t know that you can make up for your mistakes.”

  
Mismatched eyes suddenly bore into her own, and for the first time, Angela saw the depth of emotion contained within them.

  
“Angela, I’m sorry,” Moira spoke sincerely through the sudden appearance of tears that had been withheld for far too long. “You don’t ever have to forgive me, I just want you to know. I didn’t want this to end like last time, without you ever knowing the truth of what happened and how I felt, when I should have told you exactly what was going on from the very beginning. When I should have come to you and Overwatch for help instead of accepting my forced fate. I want you to know the full story, if you’ll hear it.”

  
“There’s no justification for the things you’ve done, the lives you’ve affected, the deaths you’ve caused by association with Talon. No apology will ever make up for that.” Angela didn’t want to feel empathy for Moira’s plight, didn’t want to feel the same compassion she’d felt on the battlefield earlier. She didn’t want to know that Moira had to make a complicated choice, that the world wasn’t black and white, that greys existed, and that people were only human. She didn’t want to feel for the woman she had once loved deeply but was now an enemy to her and everything she stood for.

  
“I know.” Moira looked her squarely in the eye. “What do you need from me, Angela?” For once it seemed, she wasn’t trying to foist the blame for her actions onto someone else.  
“If you were willing to talk, why didn’t you talk to Jack?”

  
Moira’s lips twitched, as though she were resisting the urge to twist them into her usual wry smile. “Jack’s bedside manner has always been poor.” A tension had been lifted from the room.

  
She looked away from Angela and back down to the table. “Besides, I thought it might be my last chance to see you before they throw me in the gaol for the rest of my life.”

  
“Moira,” said Angela, “I loved you back then and I still love you now, and I expect that I will always love you. However, I cannot reconcile what you’ve done while Talon still exists and people are still out there dying. I don’t know that we’ll ever be together.” A weight lifted from her shoulders as she finally spoke the truth she’d been carrying for years.

  
Moira nodded at her in understanding. “For the sake of the love that we once shared, that I also still feel for you, I will do my best to assist you. Peace must be made.” Angela wondered if she meant peace for herself, between the two of them, or for the world as a whole. Perhaps those were all the same thing.

  
They sat in silence for a while, each reminiscing silently on the way things had been, on the way things could have been, and on the way things were now. On the way things could not be changed no matter how much they wished they could.

  
“We have things to work on.” Angela prodded absently after a few moments.

  
“Ah yes, the dismantling of Talon. Where shall I begin?” Moira flexed her hands together.

  
At the beginning?” Angela smirked.

  
Moira rolled her eyes.

 

Perhaps peace was possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read this.
> 
> This story was my first foray into writing. It was one of the first Moicy fanfics to be posted. I know it wasn't one of the best or most interesting, but i enjoyed writing it and I hope that perhaps some of you enjoyed reading it and will understand the ending that i made. The characters sometimes write themselves without the author having any control.


End file.
